Entrepalooza will feature entrepreneurs Samuel Zell and Richard Snyder

September 15, 2003
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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Entrepalooza will feature entrepreneurs Samuel Zell and Richard Snyder

DATE: Sept. 26, 2003

EVENT: Entrepalooza 2003

SPONSORS: University of Michigan Business School’s Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and the student-led Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club.

AGENDA: • 8:15 a.m.: Business School Dean Robert Dolan will present the Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Richard Snyder, founder and CEO of Ardesta LLC. The award recognizes the accomplishments of alumni who start and build successful enterprises.

• Following the presentation: Samuel Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments, will give the morning keynote. Zell, a takeover specialist who has amassed a billion-dollar real estate fortune purchasing and then turning distressed companies into profit, will talk about the philosophy of entrepreneurship as he lives it.

• Noon: Snyder will give the keynote address. He will talk about how Ardesta, a Michigan-based venture firm with $100 million under management, is taking small tech companies into the commercial marketplace quickly and efficiently. Located in Ann Arbor, Ardesta invests in startups and early-stage companies, provides business and technical resources to support these companies, and develops industry-building resources such as publications and Web sites. In 1997, Snyder founded Avalon Investments Inc., a venture capital company targeted at investments in technology-oriented ventures. From 1991 to 1997, he served as executive vice president and then president of Gateway Inc., where he oversaw all aspects of company operations.

• Panel discussions, scheduled to begin at 9:20 a.m. and 10:40 a.m., will focus on corporate entrepreneurship, social enterprise, venture capital and southeast Michigan technology ventures.

PLACE: Hale Auditorium, Assembly Hall, corner of Hill and Tappan, Central Campus map

WEB LINKS: Visit: www.zli.bus.umich.edu/events_programs/featured_event.asp